Desiderata

The Beach Boys just make me smile. That's all for now. Image via wit and delight .

Hello, semi-faithful blog readers. I was posting pretty consistently for a while there, then I just fell off the grid. Where did I go? Honestly, I don't know. But I'm back and feeling like I'm gonna be spending a little more quality time here again. I've got that writing and reflecting bug. I hear it's going around... I like hangovers. I know, I know, I know...you probably think I'm insane, but let me explain. I don't like those gnarly hangovers (the pukey, headachey, wobbly, I-think-I'm-still-drunk kind of hangovers), but I like the mellow ones. The ones where you feel just icky enough to not want to drink again for a while. I like these baby hangovers because they serve as a reminder and act as an incentive to re-evaluate some of my not-so-great habits. For instance, feeling slight shitty today made me think about my general health. It's sufficient, but I could be taking WAY better care of myself. Then I was like, okay, I haven't been to t...

Do you ever look at your inbox and think that Japanese people's inboxes must look so insane with all those characters?

This is the beginning of a post I wrote about two months ago. Just thought I'd share. I'm sitting here at the beach watching this girl cry. It's not just a whimper but a full on why-the-fuck-is-this-happening sob and it's completely real. It's that deep, private pain that hurts in places you didn't know existed and it hits you unexpectedly--even when the beach is full of happy families and brawny lifeguards. There she sits, weeping from some true, unfathomable pain. And I feel for her. Because I've been her. I've sat at the beach looking out into its infinitely wise waves, wishing-hoping-desperately praying for some sort of answer. Eventually you're empty of wet and you brush off the sand from your jeans and wipe your swollen eyes. You take in a deep breath and breathe out I love you, Ocean . And you do. You really do. There's nothing like the salty smell, the colossal expanse, the repetition and mystery. It's a wonder we don't all ...

Food for thought on Cup of Jo today; I just want a way to revisit it again, so I'm posting it here: "I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that—I don't mind people being happy—but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It's a really odd thing that we're now seeing people saying "write down three things that made you happy today before you go to sleep" and "cheer up" and "happiness is our birthright" and so on. We're kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position. It's rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don't teach us ...

Hi all, there's a new post on what is now called: Los Francisco San Austin . Sofia (based in SF), Nora (based in Austin) and I have decided to team up and write about what we do in our respective cities. We haven't solidified a rhyme or reason behind what we'll post, so it may seem scattered at first--bear with us. We also kept some older posts (from the pre-Nora era) and so you can browse through those if you like.

Just discovered Calm.com . It's pretty great. If you need some simple guided meditation, you will love this site. You can do increments of 2 min, 5 min and even up to 20 min meditations. Beautiful soundscapes and nature images are provided. Try it out, tell me what you think. Image via Kylie Johnston Photography .